A Short Film . . .

Here’s a little gem I stumbled across a few minutes ago – and it fits in with my ongoing Mighty Boosh obsession, as it stars both Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. It’s called Sweet. Enjoy . . . especially the dance.

Brit Lit and Young Naveen Andrews

I was thinking earlier today about my college literature courses and how astonishing it was that none of my British Lit courses included any authors of Indian or Pakistani descent.  Given that I graduated from college in 2003, it’s quite pathetic.  No Salman Rushdie or Hanif Kureishi, even though they were both included in our required anthologies.  It’s changing there now as the faculty becomes younger and more diverse in both backgrounds and interests, but it’s a shame that it’s taken so long to get to that point even a little bit.

Anyway, because I was thinking of this, I was reminded of The Buddha of Suburbia, which was a book I read in 1999 after seeing the mini-series on BBC America.  The mini-series came out in 1993 and starred Roshan Seth, Brenda Blethyn, Naveen Andrews (he was 24 at the time), and Steven Mackintosh.

Here’s a clip of Hanif Kureishi talking about his book, the movie, and how it all relates to the modern world.  There are also clips from the movie in there.

Following Sean

I’ve always been fascinated by ordinary people. I honestly don’t care if someone’s done anything “extraordinary” or whatever – I just want to know the ins and outs of the average person’s life because, if you really think about it, ordinary life is funny, sad, touching, disturbing, bizarre, and so on and so forth. Ordinary life is packed with fascinating stories, most of which are never told because people don’t want to tell them, don’t think to tell them, or because people don’t seem to want to hear them.

One such story is that of Sean Farrell, who first came to attention in the late 1960’s when, as a 4-year-old, he was the subject of a short documentary about his life in Haight-Ashbury. Following Sean picks up on his and his family’s lives 30 years later.